SkinnedAussie's home team in their play-offs.

In less than 24 hours, Collingwood face the Geelong Cats in yet another Preliminary Final. For those unfamiliar with the terminology, the Prelim is the equivalent to the Conference Game; the last game before the Big Dance.

Collingwood are fresh by courtesy of the week's break, and Geelong are coming off a relatively easy victory last week, so both teams will be at their peak. It shows as neither team has made any changes to it's previous 22.

For many pundits, this game has arrived a week earlier than expected. The two best teams for the year were expected to meet in the Grand Final next Saturday afternoon (Aust time), but St Kilda threw a spanner in those works. Tonight's victor will meet the winner of the St Kilda v Western Bulldogs clash, to be played on Saturday afternoon (Aust time).

I have no idea how overseas fans can watch the game if inclined, but we will be getting a live broadcast (a very rare thing indeed), so you know where I'll be.

I'll endeavour to post the result as soon as the game ends, and I'm hoping that Collingwood are able to keep their season alive. I am hoping we are successful as Geelong are a good team; a VERY good team, and whoever wins will go in to next weeks game as favourite.

Woo Hoo. Great news to report. Collingwood are through to the Grand Final after a comprehensive belting of Geelong. A flying start saw the Magpies lead by 37 points at the first break, then going on to lead by 10 goals by half time.

The lead went out to 81 points midway though the third quarter, but the Magpies then switched into conservation mode as the game was as good as won, and tried to conserve as much energy in preparation for next week's season decider.

The final score was 18.12.120 to 11.13.79. Next weeks opponent will be determined tomorrow (Saturday) afternoon when the St Kilda Saints play the Western Bulldogs.

For now, I'll just be basking in the knowledge that we can go all the way, but going in as favourites is not always the best thing.

Congratulations and good luck, brother!

(BTW, I loved the expression, "comprehensive belting.")

Yeah, well Geelong have been known to absolutely flog teams in the past (they beat us in the same game last year by 73 points), so it's always good to give them a whack in return.

Next week's AFL (Australian Football League) Grand Final will be played between the Collingwood Magpies and the St Kilda Saints.

Check your local ESPN guide to see if it is being shown in your neck of the woods. If it is, it will be in the very early hours of Saturday morning.

Just thought I'd update, and explain one of the anomalies of Australian Rules football.

Last Saturday afternoon, in front of just over 100,000 fans, Collingwood played St Kilda in the Grand Final, with the victor claiming the title of #1 side of the year. Collingwood lead at 1/2 time by 24 points, but St Kilda fought back only to see the scores were level at the final siren. Yes, scores were tied. Collingwood had kicked 9 goals 14 behinds for a total of 68 points, with St Kilda kicking 10 goals 8 behinds, also for a total of 68 points.

In a Grand Final, no extra time is played in case the scores are level at full time, so what this means is that everyone has to come back and play another FULL game next week!

The AFL board are laughing as they get to sell another 100,000 tickets (at $100+ each), but the players have to find the energy, both physical and mental, to get up for another battle after already giving their all for 120 minutes.

The feeling here is quite surreal. Fans of both teams are feeling quite numb (I know that I do!), but fans of the other 14 teams are not happy as they have to go through another week of Collingwood this and St Kilda that.

Anyway, both teams are expecting to make one or two changes to previous team, and we all look forward to another AFL Grand Final, and hopefully, there will be a result this time around.

Good grief. I can't even imagine the AFC and NFC champs having to come back and play the Super Bowl again the following week. That's crazy, but in a really cool kinda way.

Anyway, best of luck to the Magpies, AGAIN!!!!

Looking forward to the Grand Grand Finale tomorrow night/Sunday morning The first finale followed a soccer game on ESPN last Saturday, and we stayed tuned it bc the game was so much fun to watch!

For those wanting to watch in the US, it starts at midnight Saturday (into Sunday morning) on ESPN2.

Being on so late, would you get the whole game? Considering we are some 16 hours ahead, there would be heaps of time to edit the footage, but if Collingwood win this time around, 4pm Sunday will be just a blur for me!

Yea I was totally off on my days! haha, it's on now! They started coverage right at the beginning of the 2nd quarter and will go through the end.

Excellent result. I need to let it sink in as it has been 20 years since our last Grand Final victory.

Excellent news, SA! My sincerest congratulations to you, my friend! Way to go Magpies!!!